Legal Scholars Urge Revisions to State Compensation Law to Boost Payouts

With a round of amendments on the horizon, observers also call for greater clarity on how property losses are calculated

Zhang Zhichao was sentenced to life in prison for rape by the Linyi Intermediate People’s Court in East China’s Shandong province when he was 16 on March 6, 2006. After 13 years, the Shandong High People’s Court acquitted him. Photo: Shandong High People’s Court

Li Jin spent 22 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.

In early July, months after he was exonerated, he filed a state compensation application to the Sichuan Provincial High People’s Court, seeking a total of 37.72 million yuan ($5.2 million).

The legal basis of his claim is China’s State Compensation Law, passed in May 1994 and enacted the following January.

Aimed at compensating victims whose personal rights have been infringed by the state, such as through the loss of freedom or property, the law has long been touted by officials as an “important milestone in the construction of democracy and rule of law” in China, as described by Xiao Jie, vice-chairman of the current National People’s Congress Standing Committee, at a May symposium.

Now, a third round of amendments to the 30-year-old law is underway, since it’s included in the National People’s Congress’ five-year legislative plan released in September.

Lawyers and legal scholars alike have called for a substantial increase in the payment standards outlined in the law and greater clarity in how compensation should be calculated to maximize the protection for individuals and organizations that have been wronged by public power.